Condos, their problems and how to solve them

Condos, their problems and how to solve them

I have a good friend. He purchased recently a nice condo in downtown Mississauga. First months were good. But then he noticed an unusual problem. Here and there, especially in the evenings he got a smell from someone’s kitchen in his condo unit! Problem became worse during weather change…

My friend opened door and windows, he turned on the fans above the kitchen stove and in the washroom. Still, smell came back… It became really annoying! How to live like that?

My friend then went to property manager of the building and asked him for help. He suspected, that there is an air movement between floors, that there are holes in common element area that were not closed, not isolated properly. Manager said, that there is nothing he can do, because building was inspected during construction and everything was passed. Manager literally yelled at my friend, said that this smell is my friend’s fantasies, because nobody else is complaining…

My friend then talked to number of other people that live in the building and some of them confirmed, that they also get unneeded smells here and there. General attitude was that they have to be patient with it, because it is a condo, big building, many different people etc… One immigrant from Iraq said: “When I get those smells, I just spray a cologne…and it’s ok! Ha-ha!..”

My friend then called me. He decided not to put up with bad smell and not just spray cologne, but fix the problem properly. I’ve decided to help…

First it was necessary to open drywall in every area suspected as the source of bad smell intrusion. Soon we’ve found that there are located drain and vent pipes that go between floors. Around pipes was installed fire barrier caulking. But it was installed IMPROPERLY! Installers just dropped it casually around the pipes, but there were holes and cavities between the pipes and the concrete slab! Air freely moved through those cavities. So if in the unit above or below a fire broke up, smoke would enter my friend’s unit, causing bad smell/property damage. Water too would go through those cavities, causing damage…

Most smell came from around kitchen drain and washing machine drain pipes. Toilet was removed as well, and around the toilet flange was also found a big cavity. Smelly air just blew from there…

And all that in condo less than 10 years old!

We removed old fire barrier caulking, scraped it out. It was quite difficult, because work area was hard to reach. We didn’t remove many cabinets, granite countertops etc, we did our best to minimize intrusion… Then we filled up cavities around drain and vent pipes with premium quality fire barrier waterproof silicone. Thickness of silicone installation was at least 2 inches… We did one layer, waited until it dries, then installed another layer. This technique worked well when filling up cavities above the head, in ceiling slab. We also used air and waterproofing fire barrier foam imported from USA to fill up cavities that were extremely hard to reach… Then we finished it with same waterproofing fire barrier silicone.

And so bad smell had disappeared!

But it was not the end. We have found that existing isolation material was the one made of glass (fiberglass, very irrigative for the airways) and there was not enough of it! Here too builders made a shortcut… We installed instead a stone-made sound barrier insulation. We installed it around every pipe, in the ceiling, around ceiling ventilator and inside of one wall that was opened. As a result pipes has become much quieter, noise from ventilator was dramatically reduced, as well as noises from the bathroom of condo unit at upper floor…

When it all was ready, a contractor general came and installed back drywall, painted it – and that was finish. Condo has become nice and pleasant for living!

We have to say, that in too many buildings and condos in GTA the above described problems do exist… Certainly, something has to be done in terms of tighter control, tighter inspection during condo construction, on each and every step! Legislation may be changed to require more proper actions. So far we see numerous deficiencies from builder in many condos that we visited for all kinds of work. Inspectors must come often to building site, even without warning, to see all kind of work done properly by all kinds of contractors. As usual, quality workmanship is hidden in small details… It is possible during construction to install fire barrier properly, thick layer of it, filling up all existing cavities, it is much easier at that time, because everything is open and accessible. So condo unit will be completely and safely sealed from the top and from the bottom and if any emergency happens in that unit, then other units have much smaller risk of getting any damage, be it water, or fire, or smoke and bad air.

So if you have similar problems in your apartment/condo or if you plan to renovate your unit, call 24 Hours Plumber 647-660-5030 www.24hoursplumber.com. We will help you.